Meeting of Christian leaders raided in Liaoning

(Dalian, Liaoning—May 3, 2017) Authorities in China’s northeaster Liaoning province conducted a massive raid against a gathering of house church pastors on April 26.

Pastors in attendance said that there were more than 40 pastors from house churches across China at the “Unity in Christianity” event hosted by Pastor Guo Pingxi from Kunming, Yunnan. During the proceedings, approximately 100 public security officers and special police, accompanied by several patrol cars, broke into the building.

Three pastors were taken away immediately, while the rest were locked in a room and questioned both in groups and individually. The raid and process of interrogations lasted several hours, and the pastors were accused of participating in illegal gatherings without government permission.

According to one attendee, police accused Guo of belonging to a foreign anti-China group, an accusation that the attendee called “ridiculous.”

“We refuted that because Pastor Guo is Chinese, himself,” the pastor said, “how could he be part of a foreign anti-China group? The government is afraid of Pastor Guo’s advocacy for the unity of Chinese house churches.”

Guo was previously targeted by authorities in November of 2014, when authorities detained him for giving lectures on religion and the legal system to Christians in Dazhou, Sichuan. He was administratively detained for 15 days.

ChinaAid reports on raids by Chinese authorities against house church leaders like Guo Pingxi and the attendees of the “Unity in Christianity” event in order to highlight religious freedom and human rights abuses by the Chinese government.